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Naruko and Eiji embark on a mission to protect a trade fleet. Instead of protecting they get caught!

"Piracy Trickery"

The Open Seas

The trip begining on the open seas began as quickly as the shinobi made it to the to the boat with the merchant they were guarding. They were tasked with keeping the cargo safe, looking out for any intruders wishing to poach the cargo from their finger tips. With a fully loaded Caravan Naruko sat at the helm of the ship, her eyes watching along the looming horizon, water at their back and front land could be seen from no where. " I suppose now it's just the waiting game…" The chuunin muses to herself before going over to check on Eiji. She didn't give him and specific task. Merely just to "Keep an eye out". It was a little more difficult to do because not only was they watching the boat they were on, but also two companion merchant vessels at their flanks. It was going to be a long watch over the open seas…. More shinobi would have been great.

Eiji is quite use to the hard tasks. Indeed, he was able to run from one boat to the other to keep tabs on them. A circuit he would do fairly regularly to make sure that everything was good. Of course for the sailors, it was probably a little crazy to see. Then again, they weren't wanting to show off too much, so he did his best to keep it fairly low key. Just enough to keep tabs without it being too out of place. Can't catch them if they don't show up for the bait.

Naruko didn't notice anything unusual on her own, but as Eiji ran his rounds across each of the vessels she couldn't help but to ask for a bit of an update. She waited there at the helm still and as time allowed she waved over to him to come on over. "Hey! Eiji! Any updates?" Naruko asks while shielding some of the soon from her eyes, raising her hand just above her brows to block out some of that sunlight. She sniffs at the air but all she could smell was boat and sea water. Nothing really interesting to catch her attention. "Do you have any insight on how these attacks originally began in the first place? "

Eiji would pause in his circuit at Naruko's request, pausing next to her to look around then to her with a frown and small shake of his head. "Not particularly. This started occurring only recently that I know of. People always attempt to get something easier then having to actually work. It's frustrating, but is simply part of what it is, I think."

Naruko nods to that and simply rubs the side of her temples… He didn't give her much information to go off of so all they could really do at that point was just wait and see what happened. "Alrighty then…will it's very possible that nothing could happen…Or if something does happen it may happen much later. Maybe even once we get port side… I wouldn't waste too much of your energy, especially if something does end up happening much later." Naruko recommends while a soft yawn escapes her lips. "Let's just keep things simple for now. Keep a look out but we will be more reactive than proactive going forward. Let them come to us if there truly is going to be some trouble…"

Eiji frowns, then nods slightly. "Hai. I'll do that Naruko-san." Looking around, Eiji would shrug and head for the front of the boat, settling out of the way by the front mast as he'd watch and wait for the travel to keep going. Either they fought on water.. or on land. Eiji could easily handle both, so he wasn't that concerned.

A few hours of trek within their boar ride and suddenly their situation was becoming…A little bit more grim. There wasn't a need for a whole lot of scouting around. Right along the horizon a fleet of ships came in direct sight, a few miles out but quickly closing it. Not just at their front but on all sides as well. It was easily about 12 ships, aiming to swiftly encircle them…. Etched into the sails was an insigna designated for those who indulged into piracy. "Well now…that's…quite a lot of ships…" Naruko mutters quitely under her breath. She places a hand on Eiji's shoulder, while flicking off a bead of nervous sweat from the tip of her brow. " So… what do you think we should do in such a situation…"

Eiji would stand up when the boats appear, looking around with a small frown. Shaking his head slightly, he'd look to Naruko at her touch. "Do you know any water jutsu? Otherwise.. well.. how many do we need to leave floating? I'm pretty sure I'm strong enough I can punch a hole right through the hull of those boats."

"Do you….know who I am…?" Naruko asks at the question of her possibly knowing water jutsu… Though while they were talking massive spheres of fire veered off into the skies above them in a mighty arch, before gradually crashing down upon the 3 merchant ships they were trying to protect. They didn't appear to be any sort of interesting weapons….It looked like the balls of fire was launched by rival ninja, still fairly far out but that meant there were 12 balls of fire bearing down upon them from afar. They all looked like they would hit their mark. "Move the ships!" Naruko shouts out to their merchant squad, hoping that they would all hear her, and they did, though the speed at which they could shift directions wasn't as…. quick as it should be. They would have to do something to really deal with these attacks.

Eiji studies Naruko for a moment, then shakes his head slightly. "Not really, no. Just that you are a chuunin I was assigned to work with…" Eiji trails off as the fireballs would show up, frowning slightly. Well.. this wasn't going to work. Watching the boats as they tried to move, he frowned. "I'll take this half if you can get that half.." With that, he was gone. Full speed into that blur of the Reizei as the genin rushed in with the sword. But what would happen is that as the fireballs got close, he'd leap in and with a flash of the blade, sunder it in several chunks to disperse the strike as harmless. Eiji was fast and he was good at what he did. Hopefully Naruko could keep up!

Eiji may have been able to swath through the fire balls as they got close but Naruko didn't quite have the ability to knock away attacks like that. She could move out of the way and protect herself but there was no way she was going to push an entire boat out of the way. She heaved out a few fire balls of her own. Launching them out against rival spheres. Some of them actually managed to explode and disperse the others, but one or two managed to slip through the defenses, narrowly missing one of the boats while one last sphere literally slammed down onto the deck of a merchant ship, awashing it in flames. The explosion didn't burn through the ship, but the sail and deck was definitely in ruins now. Mean awhile… the ships above got even closer and closer, at this point leading them into an encirclment… The Uzumaki cringed at the damage, but she didn't get too flustered, she reached to wave a hand towards Eiji. "Eiji! Find us a white flag. We are going to surrender. I don't want to chance another barrage like that… We are out numbered."

Eiji would pause as he'd almost warp from spot to spot. The Reizei was fast and knew what he was doing with the blade.. but that should be expected. As Naruko calls out, he'd look at her, then look around, quickly finding the appropriate flags and with a bit of speed and tree walking, get all of the merchant ships set up with the white to show they surrender. Once done, he'd stop next to Naruko. "This is probably a poor idea, Naruko-san.."

Naruko looked to make sure the flags was purely visible, and to make sure their sails were stopped. She noticed the frustration on the merchants face and even the disgruntledness of the crew, but they had to face the facts. "A bit of merchandise isn't worth dying over. I'm sure you and I could be able to handle this but it's not like we can tell the crew to hide in the back. A lot of people can die in the open waters like this…we need our boats." Naruko states with a brief shrug of hr shoulders. "we will save some lives today and get a better idea on what's going on around here." Naruko then pauses at the one of the main ships in front of them begins to close space, a beared man on the other side of the sea now finally within shouting distance. "We surrender! Just don't harm anyone and we can give everything over peacefully!" Naruko exclaims from afar. The man on the other side seems to nod and accept the gesture. " Keep your fire trained on these boats. It's time to tow them in. We want the entire crew also. Drop your weapons and line up to be tied up!" The man simply replies back.

"Trust me a bit on this, will you? Eiji?" Naruko speaks over to him, while raising her hands into the air, harmlessly.

Eiji frowns as he'd listen but nods slightly, glancing around at the rest of the people. She had a completely valid point. Looking to the man in turn, he'd frown at the requirement of dropping his weapon. Reaching into a pouch, Eiji would pull out a length of rope and carefully tie the blade's pommel to the hilt in a peace knot. Even with his speed not something easily removed quickly and without being obvious. "I won't drop my blade. But I've tied it so it can't be used. As Naruko-san has stated. We will not fight you further."

The encirclment was complete, and groups of savages began to tie up their "prisoners" all as one big group rather than individually. "How wonderful for you lot to be so accomdating. No one has to get hurt. But we want all of your stuff and we are going to have it. We're towing your boats to shore. Your going to come with us and cooperate further…. Blind folds!" The man then shouts, as the savages begin to blindfold most of the crew while leaving them on the deck. The mission appeared to be all but lost at this point… If only the Kumo-nin could pull through. For now…They were forced into containment. Onwards to the trekt towards the pirate base.